Who’s afraid of Yahweh?
07 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Doctrine Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Bible interpretation, christians, doctrine, ethics, God, Old Testament
It doesn’t take long before a thoughtful Bible reader comes across some rather odd and nasty things, especially in the Old Testament. And non-believers use the odd and nasty things as a weapon against christians: “How can you believe in a God who is genocidal?” they might say.
What are we to make of these things? Do they make it hard to maintain faith in Jesus? And how should we answer the critics?
CS Lewis’ trilemma – not so effective now?
30 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, christianity, Jesus, making disciples, Old Testament, reason
I have been a CS Lewis fan since my youth. So I remember being impressed by his argument, in Mere Christianity, that Jesus was divine. He could not have been merely a great moral teacher, Lewis argued, for his claims were such that either he was mad, or evil, or truly the Lord.
These days, the argument, often called the trilemma and abbreviated (and changed a little) to Liar, Lunatic or Lord? is not so effective. It is important that we understand why.
Interpreting the Old Testament
25 Aug 2011 9 Comments
in Bible Tags: Bible, Bible interpretation, Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament
A long time ago I noticed that when Jesus and the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament, they did not always do it literally or accurately, but often used translations and interpretations that did not seem to be present in the original.
I felt this was an important fact, so I researched the matter (the way to learn new truths is to examine difficult facts).
God without religion?
13 Aug 2011 4 Comments
in Doctrine Tags: christianity, churches, Old Testament, religion
A friend of mine (G’day T!) sent me this link to a new book called God Without Religion by Andrew Farley (he’s pastor of a church in Lubbock, Buddy Holly’s home town). I think it’s worth a look. Here are some quotes from the article:
Should christians obey the Old Testament Law?
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bible Tags: Bible, Old Testament
Isn’t it a no-brainer? The Bible is inspired from beginning to end, and Jesus said that not even one tiny piece of the Law could pass away. Doesn’t that settle it?
Well, it’s not that simple actually – because no-one obeys it, or even attempts to! It is a pious fiction.
Does fulfilment of Bible prophecy prove anything?
12 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bible Tags: Bible, Old Testament
A long time ago I read a book which (primarily) examined a bunch of Biblical prophecies which had come true in verifiable history, and attempted to estimate the mathematical probability of this happening by guesswork. The book was Science Speaks, by Peter Stoner, a college professor of mathematics and astronomy, and I have just found it is now available on the internet.
Of course the study found that it was quite implausible that these correct prophecies could have been made by chance, and I remember being very impressed at the time. But the argument for the truth of the Bible from fulfilled prophecy has since fallen on hard times. Should we be using it today?
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